BLOOMINGTON – Ivy Tech Bloomington Associate Professor of Biotechnology, Sarah Cote, applied for and was awarded a $55,259 National Science Foundation planning grant to be used to initiate the development of Bioscience Educators Alliance of the Midwest Region (BEAM).

“This grant is going to allow us to continue to develop regional partnerships and enhanced opportunities to share instructional materials, teaching skills and learning opportunities among the partners,” Sarah Cote, Assistant Professor of Biotechnology said. “Educators will become better able to meet the needs of their communities through strong partnerships with local industry.”

Ivy Tech Bloomington held a BEAM consortium organization meeting at the Indiana Center for the Life Sciences in August 2010 and identified common goals among the partners. The purpose of BEAM will be to develop and share educational materials, models and resources in the biosciences.

BEAM is currently made up of 12 community college bioscience programs and their industry partners throughout the Midwest, including Ivy Tech’s Bloomington campus (Ind.), Madison Area Technical College (Wis.), BioOhio with its six community college partners (Oh.), Indian Hills Community College (Ia.), St. Louis Community College (Mo.), Lansing Community College (Mich.), and Hennapin Tech Community College (Minn.).

As written in the abstract of the grant proposal, there are two main outcomes of the grant: best practices for partnerships between educational institutions and industry partners, as well as a solidified plan for a Midwest Regional consortium of biotechnology related community college educators together with their high school and industry partners.

Based on the agreement of the consortium, the Ivy Tech Bloomington biotechnology department submitted an additional grant proposal in October 2010 to the National Science Foundation to seek funding to develop an Advanced Technological Education Regional Center. The development of a center would further facilitate workforce development in the communities of the consortium partners.

Sarah Cote is Associate Professor of Biotechnology and instructs various biotechnology and biology courses for Ivy Tech Bloomington at the Indiana Center for the Life Sciences.

About Ivy Tech Community College
Ivy Tech is the state’s largest public postsecondary institution and the nation’s largest singly accredited statewide community college system serving nearly 200,000 students annually. Ivy Tech has campuses throughout Indiana. It serves as the state’s engine of workforce development, offering affordable degree programs and training that are aligned with the needs of its community along with courses and programs that transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association.